It’s a new era for San Diego Basketball with a new head coach in Steve Lavin. What are the first set of key opponents for him and the Toreros this season?
After finishing around .500 both in overall record and in WCC play, San Diego Basketball decided to part ways with head coach Sam Scholl and replace him with Steve Lavin, who coached 12 years at both UCLA and St. John’s, making a combined eight NCAA Tournament appearances.
The Toreros are hoping he can make it nine, starting with this upcoming season. It’s doable to get a bid in the WCC without having to beat Gonzaga, as Saint Mary’s and San Francisco did just that this past season. In order to be in position, San Diego will have to have a quality non-conference campaign. There are 14 matchups set, including a four-team little tournament. Here are the key games to watch.
11/17 Utah State Aggies (H)
The perennial Mountain West contenders won’t have double-double machine Justin Bean around anymore but they did land a couple of good frontcourt transfers in Taylor Funk (13.2 ppg and 6.6 rpg at St. Joe’s) and former top-50 prospect, Isaac Johnson. If returning key guards R.J. Eytle-Rock and Rylan Jones can have consistent production, they’ll be formidable once again.
11/25-26 Las Vegas Holiday Classic (N) – New Mexico State, Nicholls State, or UC Irvine
This is far from an easy tournament for the Toreros, as all three teams are perennial favorites for their respective conferences. New Mexico State, led by LSU transfer Xavier Pinson, will be one of the top mid-major teams yet again, while UC Irvine is always on top of the Big West. And Nicholls State is the reigning Southland regular-season champs and still has a good roster, filled with former power conference players. San Diego could easily go 0-2 in this event and will need to hope for a split.
12/3 UNLV Rebels (H)
The Rebels won this matchup by 23 points and the series returns to San Diego, with a bunch of new players on both sides. For UNLV, they have seven newcomers, including guards Jackie Johnson (Duquesne) and Elijah Harkless (Oklahoma), as well as forward Isaiah Cottrell (West Virginia). It’s a roster with plenty of defensive potential but they’ll need to figure out who the top scorers will be in this rotation.
12/18 Arizona State Sun Devils (A)
Arguably the toughest matchup in the non-conference, the Sun Devils also have a bunch of newcomers. Desmond Cambridge and Warren Washington are both double-digit transfers from Nevada, while former four-star point guard Frankie Collins comes over from Michigan. And if he’s healthy, Marcus Bagley may end up being the most talented individual player the team sees as well before the start of WCC play.